It was a one in 20 chance encounter.  I felt like a paparazzi who got a chance to spy a celebrity but in this instance my camera caught a shot of the Tango, the car that makes look the Smart Car look like a Lincoln Continental.  Only about 10-20 Tangos exists which makes the sighting more special. Actually my neighbor (a solar guy who already drives an EV-4) had the thing in his driveway in the Lower Haight and a crowd of passersby, tourists, and green auto enthusiasts formed around this electric only car.

As they say, looks can be deceiving. My neighbor said that the Tango can beat a Tesla in terms of acceleration. The Tango can accelerate from zero to over 130 mph in one gear. It accelerates from zero to 60 mph in about 4 seconds. We say Zoom to that.

Don’t think that just because this little guy is small that it isn’t safe. Okay, relatively safe. It contains a crash tested roll cage (like they use for race cars). More importantly is comfort. You’d think that anyone sitting in the back would be subjected to eating their knees but the back seat allows more room than one might guess with the running boards for legroom.

The little guy offers two main downsides. One of which is the charging radius which goes about 50 miles give or take. Okay for a big city (except LA) but not a cross country trip. The only thing- like the Tesla– the price tag on this sustainable bolt of energy isn’t exactly suited for everyone – think six figures.

Hopefully, the in future these little bad boys will have a lower price tag and more acceptance. How about some cross promotion with some of those power forwards in the NBA?